Clause 1 - Duties in relation to high standards and the fulfilment of potential
Education and Inspections Bill
4:00 pm
Jacqui Smith (Minister of State (Schools and 14-19 Learners), Department for Education and Skills; Redditch, Labour)
I am pleased that the hon. Member for South Holland and The Deepings identified the contribution made by Conservatives. I was identifying the historical knowledge that informed his contribution. However, my skills of critical evaluation and analysis, honed during the 1980s when I was a pupil, student and teacher, do not lead me to believe that the Conservative party’s objective has always been so. While the amendment’s proposition is a welcome one, I am not yet in a position to depend on the Conservatives to put disadvantaged children at the heart of our education system. I shall explain, therefore, why the Government are ensuring that that happens and how the Bill will take it forward.
Standards have risen since 1997. Then, a third of children left primary school without the skills in English and Maths necessary to make progress in the secondary curriculum. In 2005, 79 per cent. achieved those standards in English, and 75 per cent. achieved them in Maths. Pupils aged 11 to 14 have benefited from improvements in teaching and learning from our secondary strategy, and national test results for 14-year-olds show the best ever results in English, maths, science, and information and communications technology. In 2005, schools achieved record improvement in GCSEs, which is testimony to the hard work of teachers, head teachers, governors and support staff, backed up by this Government’s investment and reform.
The reforms have meant striking improvements for children from all backgrounds, but I accept that the evidence shows that there is still an attainment gap for pupils. That issue is at the heart of this education reform. More than seven out of 10 pupils in receipt of free school meals do not get five higher-level GCSEs. When we look more closely at the statistics, we clearly see that particular groups do less well than their peers: children from particular black and minority ethnic groups, white working-class boys, children in public care and those with complex and problematic family lives all experience poorer outcomes throughout their educational careers. It was because we were unwilling to accept that situation that we introduced the Bill and the education reform that it supports.